Final Fight for Survival
by TaylorAndEllie
Summary: The FFXII gang are in trouble.. there's a global crisis and they have the job of trying to survive.. But will they succeed? The weather is terrible and no where is safe.. What will they do? This is my English Essay, so please please review! :
1. Chapter 1

_**Ok, Hi. This is a task we were set in our English class, so i would really really appriciate any comment or criticism about this story. It isn't long yet, coz it isn't finished. I still haven't handed it in, so i am willing to change any detail or anything in particular about it, so please, Review!! I would also like to point out, this story isn't exactly like the original characters, because it's set in the 21st century! When your finished reading this story, feel free to check out any other and remember to Review! We need to know whats good and what we need to work on. I don't own anything to do with FFXII, or Square Enix and la di da. Enjoy!**_

**Final Fight for Survival**

_**It's been snowing for three days. The wind is physically painful. It's way too cold. People are definitely going to die. There's no doubt about it. **_

"Mr President, it's an emergency, the temperature is way too low, the snow is non-stop. The chance of survival is low. We need to get you out of here. Look at this fax," called Basch Fon Ronsenburg, the president's trusty assistant and personal friend.

"What do you intend we do? We can hardly evacuate the country, that could take days, weeks even!" he said, moments after the President had finished reading the fax.

"I can't leave my country at a time like this. We shall speak with the PM in Britain, I hear it's not so bad there, if that's the case, we shall travel there tonight," replied the President, looking at Basch.

"I am sorry sir, but, all my family is here, I can't go with you," Basch said with a hint of guilt.

"It's ok, I understand, I think that the British PM's assistant will be flying here, you shall meet him. His plane is landing at around 8.30pm. Arrange a car and meet him there, I should go and back now," replied the president as he walked off to meet his family and pack.

The thought had then crossed Basch's mind that this was it. The end of life, or life as we knew it anyway. But he shook the idea out of his head and looked at the clock. 7.45pm. He had plenty of time. The airport wasn't that far away.

He walked towards the long red drapes that kept the valuable heat in. He pulled back the drapes and masses of cold air hit his face. It was worse than he thought. He let his hand rest on the window sill for a few seconds, but when the frost touched his hand he flinched because it was so cold. Then he thought, if the roads were so icy, he should leave now so that he would arrive at the airport in time. So he ventured out in the cold, only walking a few steps to the taxi but he could feel the heat leave his body.

"Where you headed?" the taxi driver said.

"The airport please," Basch replied, shivering.

"Might take a bit longer coz of this nasty weather," he continued, "You in a hurry?"

"Sort of," Basch replied, trying not to sound ignorant. The taxi was freezing too. The frost wasn't only on the outside, but was starting to form on the inside. The seats were uncomfortable too, not just because they were lumpy, but because they also were freezing.

When they arrived at the airport, Basch gave the driver the right amount of money and then some for a tip for driving in the weather it was. He obviously didn't realise how much he actually gave away, but it was so cold he just wanted to get inside.

As soon as he walked through the airport doors, the hot air hit his icy face. It stung, but slowly he regained the lost heat. He looked down at his watch. The plane was due to land about now.

He had briefly met the PM's assistant, Balthier. It wouldn't be hard to spot him. He decided to get a sandwich and a hot cup of coffee from the stand; he hadn't eaten since that morning, plus he needed a seat. He paid and ordered what he wanted and sat down next to a large screen that hung on the wall, showing you when the planes were due to land and take off. It said that Balthier's plane had landed, but he knew he would be some time, since he needed to get his bags and get through passport control.

It took a while but Balthier appeared, almost an hour late, carrying two large holdalls, one in each hand and his passport in his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reviewing! It's mostly Balthier POV this time. I uploaded the story again, so most of the reviews are away, but well, here is Chapter 2 :D Please, keep reviewing and I'll keep writing! I still don't own anything to do with FFXII or Square Enix... XD**

When Balthier spotted Basch, he stumbled over to meet him, nearly tripping on the two large black holdalls that banged his legs every time he took a step.

"Long time no see Basch," he said as he put the holdalls down and took the passport out his mouth. Then he continued, "Shame it had to be a global crisis when we meet again,"

"Yes, I suppose," Basch said, starting to feel the cold on his face again. Basch rubbed his cheeks and then said, "Better get going, it's getting colder by the minute," and then took hold of one of Balthier's holdalls.

Balthier took the other bag and followed Basch outside. As soon as the cold air hit his warm body all he could say was,

"Bl***y hell, it's colder than I expected," Balthier smirked. Basch smiled and said,

"It'll get worse before it gets better,"

When Balthier looked around it looked unreal. The trees were painted white with snow, and roads were, just the tracks from where cars had been. It was much, much worse here than in Britain. His hair then began to get damp, since he had no hat or umbrella with him. But when he looked up the sky was a totally different colour to what he had ever seen before in his life. It was almost purple, mixed with red and black. It was strange, hard to imagine. If he had told anyone who wasn't in America, they wouldn't believe him.

"Balthier, we must be quick, the roads are said to be treacherous and if we leave it any longer, it'll be even more dangerous, Balthier, come on," Basch called, standing with his hand over the car door, gesturing inside.

"I suppose, I wouldn't like to miss the end of this," and shoved his bags in the boot of the taxi Basch had called for and sat in the back seat. He didn't know where he was going, but he trusted Basch enough to know he wouldn't take him somewhere more dangerous than where he was now.

When they eventually arrived, Balthier stepped out warily, careful of where he placed his feet, but trying to see any signs of where they might be. But all he could see was tall white buildings. If this was the hotel he would be staying in, it was definitely well hidden. He looked at Basch, who had just paid the taxi driver.

"Where are we?" he asked, walking towards the boot to get the holdalls. Basch walked round to grab one too.

"This is where you'll be staying, my apartment. Seemed silly paying for a room when I have a spare one here," Basch said as he gestured towards one of the white buildings. Balthier nodded and shut the boot of the taxi.

"Lead the way then," he said, following Basch to his apartment.

"You'll probably be thinking this place is a dump, but wait till you get upstairs, trust me it's better than you think," Basch assured Balthier as he climbed the stairs. Balthier wasn't totally convinced, but anything could be better than this. When he looked up at the ceiling there were damp stains. The carpet was filthy. The walls weren't much better. He was glad that when he did reach the top of the stairs that there was a pristine chestnut door with the gold number '2' on the front. Looked much better.

"Wow, I'm impressed," he said, raising his eyebrows at Basch. Basch smirked and unlocked the door, wiping his feet as he walked in. Balthier followed, wiping his feet as he walked in too, making sure he didn't make a mark on the carpet. When he walked in, he looked around. Not that bad at all. It was much bigger on the inside.

"This way," Basch said as he pointed to the second door on the right hand side of the hallway. Basch followed him to the door and then gave him his bag. When he walked in and put the light on, it was an amazing room. He wondered how he afforded all this stuff. There was a big double bed and an en suite. There was 2 large windows at the end of the room and when Balthier looked out there was a stunning view. It was all white, but you could just make out that there was a park at the other side of the street. It was still snowing, but heavier now. He put his bags on the double bed. Then he turned to take his jacket off, knocking one of the bags of the bed. Then when he looked down at the bag, all his stuff had poured out onto the floor.

"Typical. Stupid bl***y bag!" he said as he picked everything back up and shoved it in that big black holdall he hated so much.

**Next Chapter soon, keep reviewing! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, it's really appreciated. Just to let you know though, I don't swear, even if the word is, well, acceptable. :P. So that's why I put the stars. Now, this chapter is mostly Fran's POV. It's not been carried on from Balthier's POV so it won't be set in Basch's apartment. Fran is a waitress in an American diner, you know like the ones in the films with roller blades and the baby pink outfits. Yeh stuff like that. XD. This chapter is MUCH longer, so sorry, but I had to fit everything in! Ok, well here is Chapter 3, and please still review coz I STILL haven't handed it in! Anyway, Enjoy! **

The diner had been very busy today. Fran didn't know why, what with all the snow, it was nearly impossible to go anywhere, but she still turned up for work, whatever the weather. She knew why she turned up for work. She needed the money.

Fran lived in a small flat with 3 other people. Max, an unemployed lump of lard, Chris, the science geek and Sarah, a journalist in the making. They were all pretty nice people, but Fran needed a home of her own. She wanted to meet new people, maybe settle down, get married and have kids, that sort of stuff. But anyway, she was too busy working to pay for this month's rent.

It was a busy lunch and Fran was up to her ears in orders. She was so busy that when the snow had stopped and half the customers had left, she didn't notice. Her baby pink outfit and white frilly apron twirled when she skated towards the tables. She was very tall, slim and could be a model, but she was also shy, quiet and liked to blend in.

When she finally took some time to slow down, she noticed nearly everyone had left. She went through to the kitchen and nobody was there. She didn't understand. Then she looked at the time. It was 7.30pm. The diner had closed half an hour ago. Where the time had gone?

She started to tidy up around the tables and in the kitchen, but then the room was filled with a cracking sound. She skated towards the diner door and looked outside. Then without thinking she tore of her skates and ran outside onto the pavement. When she looked towards the sky rain poured down, soaking her and everybody else who was outside. That was when she met Balthier and Basch.

Fran looked around, looking for anyone who could help her. She didn't know what to do. She looked to her left, then to her right, but quickly turned to her left again. She saw 2 children sheltering from the rain underneath the opening of a shop entrance, 2 doors down. She was soaking and needed to get inside, but instead she ran down towards them.

"What are you doing out here? Quick come with me," she said holding her hand out. She ran back towards the diner, accidentally running into two men.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, do you need somewhere to shelter until the storm has finished?" she asked.

"That would be lovely," Balthier replied, as they joined Fran and the children.

"Is everyone ok?" said Fran, shivering from the cold. The children said nothing but Balthier spoke.

"We are now, thank you," replied Balthier as he walked towards Fran. "My names Balthier, this is Basch," he said, pointing towards Basch who had just sat down on one of the shiny leather booths.

"I'm Fran, I work here," she said as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, and thank you," Balthier replied. He said and sat down next to Basch. Fran walked over to the children, still huddled together.

"I'm Fran, what are your names?" she asked politely. They looked at each other. There was a boy, around the age of 13 -14, and a girl, quite old, about 16 -17. Then the girl said,

"My name is Penelo; this is Larsa, thank you for letting us in,"

"I couldn't watch you freeze to death out there! So, tell me, are you brother and sister?" Fran asked, being wary of what she asked, in case something had happened.

"No, we are orphans, except we ran away. Now we live on the streets," said Larsa.

"Oh, well, you are safe here, we'll look after you," Fran said as she got up and went to the kitchen.

When she looked out of the window, the road was covered in water, the snow had melted and massive pools of water formed on the pavements and roads. The sky had turned almost red with the huge bolts of lightning and the extremely loud claps of thunder.

"Would anything like something to drink?" Fran asked, "Or eat?" she continued.

"Could we have something to eat please, we haven't eaten since this morning," said Larsa, who was sitting in the corner with Penelo.

"No problem. There should be a menu by the side. Pick anything you want. Boys?" she said.

"Could we have some coffee or tea, anything really," replied Balthier, making his way towards Fran.

"Want any help?" asked Balthier, looking at Fran as she buzzed around the kitchen in her wet socks. Then when she saw Balthier watching her, she stopped and said,

"Well I suppose you could get the mugs," and smiled at him. Balthier smiled back and went into the kitchen.

"Have you decided what you want yet children?" she asked as she tapped a spoon on the kitchen counter.

"Can we have some of the pancakes please," they replied.

"Two plates of pancakes coming up," she called back.

Basch had stayed quiet all the time they had been stuck in the diner. He had been too busy watching the weather. It was still rainy and there were huge gusts of wind that blew trees around like they were pieces of cloth on a washing line. He sure did hope nobody was out there.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Balthier was still helping Fran make the pancakes.

"So tell me about yourself Balthier," she asked.

"Well, what do you want to know?" he replied.

"Oh, I dunno, why don't we play 20 questions, you first," she said, putting the finishing touches to the pancakes.

"Ok... Are you married?" he replied, not sure what to say.

"What?!" she laughed, "Unfortunately, no,"

"When's your birthday?" he asked.

"My birthday, it's the –" She stopped mid way through the sentence as there was a large bang on the door. Basch sat upright and looked at the door. He slowly got up and walked towards the door cautiously. There was another loud bang at the door. Basch slowly answered it, wary of whom or what was behind it. He peered round while everyone else in the diner stood still, the children still sitting in the same position as they were 10 minutes ago. All Basch saw was a young boy, about the same age, or older than Penelo. His hair was soaking and his clothes were drenched too. Basch then opened the door fully and the boy ran in. Balthier walked towards the boy. Everyone watched.

"What's your name and why were you still out there?" he asked, tipping his head slightly at the scruffy boy.

"I'm Vaan and I got separated from my family, I tried to get back, but the storm got worse and this was the only place I could see," Vaan answered, shuddering and shivering from the cold.

"You can stay here, for now," said Balthier as he looked at Fran to get a nod of approval. She shrugged, looking at Vaan.

"Thanks," he panted, tired from running. Fran then thought that if he would be staying with them then she should at least make an effort to speak to him. For some reason she found him slightly annoying, even though he had only been through the door about 10 minutes.

"Do you want anything to drink or eat?" she asked nicely.

"Yes please, a drink," Vaan said as he walked over to the kitchen.

"Is water ok, or do you want coffee?" she asked.

"Em... water will do thanks," he replied, scratching his head. When he noticed Penelo and Larsa, he took his drink and he walked over to introduce himself.

"My names Vaan, what's yours?" he asked, looking at them.

"My names Penelo," she replied holding her hand out to be shook. Vaan didn't understand and he started doing a wacky high five routine he must of rehearsed a thousand times before now. He stopped before the big ending and realised that she wanted him to shake her hand. Penelo giggled. Larsa did also, then said,

"And my names Larsa,"

"Nice to meet you both," he replied, deciding not to embarrass himself again, so simply nodded at Larsa.

**Well... that's the much longer Chapter 3! Sorry if you got bored, but again, more coming! Please, I can't stress enough how much I desperately want reviews!! The next chapter is supposed to be probably the most exciting (if that's the right word), so I will try my best to make it the best of the entire story! That kinda sounds a bit cheesy, but, oh well!! Please review!! Next chapter coming very soon! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for reviewing my last chapter/chapters. The story is to be in soon, so please, of you have anything to comment on then please tell me! Yes, I will make mistakes, I'm sorry! I've still got two more chapters to go and, no I won't be writing a chapter for Larsa, not sure why yet, maybe because I don't have enough time! I haven't completely made up my mind if I will write more than one chapter per person – I'll cross that bridge when I come to it! These next few chapters will be uploaded pretty quickly, please, still review! This may be long because this is the chapter that has the 'action' in it :P. Oh well, here we go! I hope you enjoy! And I am so sorry for the wait if you have been waiting for this to be uploaded – been very busy with school and stuff! Anyway – enjoy!!**

Vaan looked around the deserted diner. Fran and Balthier were still chatting in the kitchen and Basch was STILL looking out the window just in case anything happened. Vaan smirked and then turned back around to face Penelo and Larsa.

"What you laughing at?" asked Larsa.

"Hmm, oh, just that guy over there, does he speak?" he replied.

"That's Basch and we dunno, maybe he has a problem..." Penelo said, looking at Basch.

"I'll go speak to him," and with that Vaan went over to speak to Basch.

"Hi, I'm Vaan," he said as he sat down opposite Basch.

"Hello," Basch replied, still looking out the window.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Vaan asked.

"Well, if the rain stops, I'd like to find somewhere much safer," he looked at Vaan and turned his attention to the weather again.

Vaan got up again, unable to sit still till the weather calmed down. This was unlikely. Suddenly there was a rumble. Everyone looked at Vaan.

"What!?" he screeched. Then he clicked. "Ohh no, that was NOT me..." that was all he could say before Basch interrupted him and stepped away from the window.

"What's wrong?" asked Fran. Vaan got up and stood behind Basch.

"Well, one question before I tell you are there any upstairs or even a basement to this diner?" asked Basch, still backing away from the foggy window.

"Yes, both, why?" Fran replied. Then Larsa and Penelo ran towards where Basch and Vaan were standing to get a better look at what they were going on about.

There it was. A huge spinning tornado of snow and a long tidal wave of huge ocean waves following it.

"That's why," replied Basch, still backing away.

"I think this is a good time to run," said Balthier, ushering Fran and the rest of them down a flight of stairs and through a metal door. They just got inside in time before they heard the diner's glass windows smashed and loud bangs like someone was jumping on the ceiling.

The room they were now apparently stuck in wouldn't be so bad after all. It turned out to be a storage room, where they kept the food and whatnots. The only thing was, they were stuck in a small confined space with Vaan, who they had already realised was just a bit irritating.

After a few minutes recovering, they all thought on how they would get out. Vaan thought about this hard, but couldn't quite come up with an answer. Well, a sensible one. Then, after thinking to himself that he would never come up with an idea, he started to hum.

Balthier sighed and shook his head at him, but was surprised when Basch joined in. Fran looked at Basch, laughed and joined in too. They were like dominos, one after the other joined in. Penelo, Larsa AND Balthier also joined in, adding drum beats and bom chika wow wows in occasionally. Then out of nowhere Vaan jumped up and tried – and failed to do an air guitar solo, but nobody was impressed and stopped humming and stared. Vaan was too busy 'rocking out' to notice they stopped, so continued until he finally opened his eyes. He had definitely taken it too far.

After getting up, embarrassed, he sat back down to his original seat and looked around. He looked at Penelo and Larsa, in the corner and thought – Great. I embarrassed myself AGAIN. That's three times today! Although he didn't realise he wasn't thinking – he was saying.

"What are you doing?" asked Balthier.

"Hmm..?" replied Vaan, not realising what he was on about.

"You- you were talking to yourself,"

"What? No I wasn't! I don't talk to myself," he said as he got up and leaned on one of the large metal shelves that contained flour and different foodstuffs on them. He leaned a bit too hard though and the shelf collapsed.

"Vaan!" they all shouted, covered in flour and all kinds of gunk.

All Vaan could see when he opened his eyes to see what he did was Balthier coming at him. He grabbed Vaan's arms and said -

"Boy, you are-" he was stopped short as he heard Penelo say –

"There's a door!"

And he finished his sentence – "A genius!" but we all know he wasn't intending to say that. I think even Vaan knew he wasn't going to say that. Balthier felt a bit awkward so let go of Vaan's arms and took a look at the door.

Vaan tried to get a look in, but could see nothing but the back of heads. Penelo was still sitting in the corner so he went to see her.

"Do you think this'll be our way out then?" he asked her.

"Well – it could just be another store room," she replied. They sat silent for a minute or so and then Penelo asked him –

"Do you do this kind of stuff usually?" trying not to sound rude.

"What, stuff like this?" Vaan replied, pointing at the toppled over shelves, "Oh yeah," he said, laughing a little. Penelo laughed along. But their laughing was stopped by Balthier as he said –

"Well, do you two want to get out of here or do you want to have another little conversation?" trying to be sarcastic.

Vaan looked at Penelo and noticed that how big her eyes were. He was about to say "Wow!" but thought not to as he would embarrass himself – again. In actual fact he liked Penelo. He thought she was a very loving person who would look after someone very well – and just look at Larsa.

They all walked through the door, down a few stairs and were all crammed in a slightly smelly empty room. They were all still covered in food and now that it was beginning to dry it made it smell so much more. Soon enough they were all looking around to try and see a way out, after all it was a bit dark.

The only thing was it didn't look like there WAS a way out... maybe Penelo was right, thought Vaan, holding his hands out to feel where the walls were. There was a metal sound that came from the ground. It came from where Vaan was standing. He jumped a little from side to side to make the sound again before he bent down to see what it was.

Still it was dark and you couldn't see anything so he used his hands instead. It was round, obviously metal, cold and was connected to the ground somehow. He turned his head towards the door when Fran walked out into the other room and the light from the candles beamed in, giving him a small amount of light. When she returned, she had another candle and walked towards Vaan, and bent down beside him, holding the candle towards the ground to make a proper inspection.

It was a drain. Nobody knew why a drain would be in an empty cold dark storage room, but still, it could be there way out. They all gathered around Fran and Vaan, trying to see what it was. Vaan felt proud that it was him that found it first, but refrained from saying anything just in case it made anyone in particular think he was a show off who wanted all the attention.

He stood up and rubbed his hands together before he crouched down again and tried to lift the large round metal drain lid. It was too heavy for Vaan to lift though and he dropped it after lifting it only millimetres from its original spot, making a long ringing noise that filled the little room and the room outside.

"Vaan! Do you have to make so much noise?" said Balthier after the ringing had finished.

"You sound like my-" he stopped mid way through his sentence and thought what he was going to say now. He decided it would be better to not say anything for a while and stood up and walked over to the corner Penelo was sitting in.

He watched Balthier and Basch as they lifted the drain lid and placed it in the opposite corner to where Vaan and Penelo were sitting.

Balthier, Basch and Fran stood over the drain, looking down into the place below. Surprisingly there were lights all the way down the tunnel which made their eyes hurt.

"Who wants to go down first then?" asked Fran, looking towards Vaan.

"Well don't look at me, I don't wanna go down first," he said as he got up to see what was actually down there. It was very bright, practically white. Fran, Vaan, Basch and Balthier all moved away and shouted at each other, not noticing that Penelo had got up from the corner she was sitting in and started to climb the ladder, Larsa following. The other four were still arguing – but went silent when Penelo screamed.

"Who's that!" Balthier shouted, looking at the corner Penelo and Larsa were sitting in minutes before. Vaan noticed that the echoing was coming from the bright tunnel that they were arguing about going down.

"Penelo?" he said, peering down the hole. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"There's rats!" she squealed, looking up at Vaan. Vaan looked back up at Fran, Basch and Balthier and quickly said "Come on," as he continued to go down the ladder into the bright hole.

When they were all down the ladder and the rats had scurried away, they then had the problem of which way to go. The only person who would have a real idea of which way to go would be Fran, who was already walking away. Everybody guessed she knew her way, so followed her.

On the way they saw many, many rats and the odd spider or two. Nobody knew where they were going to go, not even Fran, but she didn't say anything. Suddenly loud bangs and thumps travelled through the tunnelling sewers.

"The water!" Basch shouted, making a loud echo that got quieter and quieter.

**Yep. Well that was chapter 4. I'm going back to Fran's POV now, I have an idea :L. It's already been started (if that makes sense) and I am going to France in a couple of days so I'll try and have it done by the end of our Easter holidays! I hope you enjoyed that chapter, but I hope you enjoy the next chapter even more!! See Yaa!**


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